New York Times: Israeli plan to install Ahmadinejad after the fall of the Iranian regime

The New York Times, citing Iranian sources, has revealed allegations of a covert operation led by Israel over several years to recruit former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as part of a plan aimed at installing him as Iran’s leader in the event of the current regime’s collapse.

According to the sources, an international climate conference served as cover for secret meetings held in 2024 between Ahmadinejad and Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, noting that the agency’s chief, David Barnea, personally traveled to the Hungarian capital, Budapest, to meet the former Iranian president.

The sources added that Mossad operatives moved Ahmadinejad to a secret safe house after the residential compound where he had been staying was hit in an Israeli strike, claiming that he had intended to move forward with normalizing relations with Israel if he returned to power.

So far, no official comment has been issued by the Iranian or Israeli authorities regarding these allegations, and no independent public evidence has been presented to confirm the claims contained in the report.